The Secret Child
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Summary: A powerful demigod arrives at camp after the Titan war. Soon after, though, she brings trouble to everyone she comes across. To make things right and save Olympus, she must complete her quest with only a young satyr and two outcasts by her side. And to complete her quest, she must weigh betraying her friends and helping her father... against saving the world. Rated T, just in case.
1. I Sell a Magazine

**First story! Make sure to give me your opinion, please. It's appreciated!**

 **Disclaimer: Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan. Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm. I don't own McDonald's, either. I think that's everything, but just in case, I don't own anything except my own characters.  
**

People think being a half-blood is _sooooo_ cool. Did all of y'all miss that first sentence in _The Lightning Thief?_ Be happy if you're normal and shut up about wanting to be a demigod. We have our up times, but in the end, it usually leads to untimely demise.

On that happy note, hi. I'm that really weird girl who likes yelling at people and reading and _Star Wars_. I arrived here at camp a little bit before _The Last Olympian_ was published, which a month after all the summer campers left. In fact, I was one of the only demigods to cross the border after August. We'll get to that later, though.

My name is Emily Cadence. That's my first name. My last name is Lasicola-Parkenson. See, my mom, Jennifer Parkenson, adopted me. My birth name was Emily. Mom had always wanted a daughter named Cadence, but she really liked my birth name, too. Also, for some reason, she decided to get married while in the process of my adoption. Half of the papers said Jennifer Lasicola and half of them said Jennifer Parkenson. So my full name is Emily Cadence Jennifer Lasicola-Parkenson, since she decided to add a middle name as well. When I was little, I read a book about a girl with three names. Amateur.

I'm 11 years old, have ADD, live in Fort Worth, Texas, and just entered seventh grade, or something like seventh grade. I've been homeschooled all my life, so we don't really have grades. I'm usually just in whatever grade my friends Cooper and Isabella Buzzard are in. They're not brother and sister, but they could be, with their matching blond hair and blue eyes.

Cooper and I met in a hole-in-the-wall homeschool co-op I used to go to in fifth grade. He has ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia. At first we were the _Star Wars_ /Hunger Games (the books) geeks, random fact nerds, best friends, but I've recently developed a crush on him. We can only text now, since I'm doing full-time homeschool, but we're still really close. Isabella was super shy before I officially met her, but she's stuck to me like superglue now. She has this thing with her legs, so she needs crutches to walk. She's about a year younger than me, and super smart, especially with history. That's how she got into fifth grade at eight. She doesn't have a phone, so our moms organize weekly "playdates" (we call them hang times) for us to catch up, and for me to see how many of my old classmates still remember me. I get the phone number of whoever doesn't and prank call them.

My life was really nice until seventh grade.

My mom was driving me to the weekly hang time when I got a text from Cooper. "What's up EmCay?" it said. Cooper likes to call me that.

"On my way to hang time with Isabella." I texted back.

"Ok. Be right back," he texted. I told him I'd be waiting. Mom and I listened to my favorite CD as we drove. He didn't text back.

We arrived at Isabella's house and I was surprised to see Cooper's bike in the driveway – he lives about a block from Isabella's house. Isabella opened the door right as I was about to knock, hugged me, and rushed me up the stairs to her room. I was about to ask what the hurry was when Isabella opened the door on Cooper and knocked him over.

"Oh god, Cooper, are you okay?" I asked.

"Nothing's broken. And I'm probably not dead," Cooper replied, rubbing his jaw. "That's five times you've tried to kill me in the last five minutes."

Isabella smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she said.

"So," I said to Cooper. "Why are you here?"

He shrugged. "No idea. A certain Isabella invited me over for reasons she won't explain." I accidentally dropped my phone, which I'd been carrying since the only pocket in my jeans big enough to hold it had ripped. Cooper and I leaned down to grab it at the same time and bumped heads. I stood up, pretty sure I was blushing, while Cooper kept one hand where I had hit him and used the other to give me back my phone. Isabella gave a nervous-sounding laugh, the kind she does whenever I talk about Cooper. She doesn't like boys, so this kind of stuff kind of stuff weirds her out a little.

"Seriously, everyone is out to get me!" Cooper complained. I blushed even redder and Isabella laughed for real. Probably she knew how embarrassed I was. I elbowed her. I had been trying to keep my crush on Cooper a secret – at least from him – but that plan was out the window now. So I just pretended it never happened.

All of us sat down on Isabella's bed. A girl named Lilly had forgotten about me, so I put her information into my phone and made a mental note to call her. And one on my notes app, because I'm really good at forgetting things. We chatted for a little while, succeeded in keeping Cooper from sitting on Isabella's favorite stuffed animal, and ate some cookies Isabella's mom brought up. The tray of cookies was on my lap, so Cooper and Isabella had to scoot right next to me to get one. Maybe I'm too young to be thinking this, but I wished Cooper would stay right next to me.

There was no way, of course. After Cooper got his cookie, he would go back to his place, mainly because Isabella loves her mom's cookies and goes crazy whenever she gets her hands on them. Eventually, though, she calmed down. You wouldn't think it would be possible after seven double fudge chocolate chip cookies, and a huge chocolate chip muffin she had right before I got there, but she managed. For my sake, I think. I noticed Cooper didn't scoot as far away from me now.

About an hour later my mom came up and told us that Isabella was sleeping over tonight. Cooper wasn't staying overnight, but his dad had said he could stay until nine. Isabella packed enough of her things for a night and the next day, then Mom put his Cooper's bike and Isabella's backpack into the back of the truck. There were two suitcases in there too, filled with books that Mom would donate eventually, or so we thought. I have since learned their true purpose.

Along the way, Mom took, like, trillions of wrong turns and we ended up at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Or we thought they were wrong turns. After a few minutes of fiddling with the GPS to mislead us, Mom held up two plane tickets and revealed that the sleepover would actually be for two weeks and in Manhattan, New York. Cooper didn't get to come, which was a bit disappointing, but we were still super excited.

We were supposed to meet Cooper's dad at the McDonald's for lunch. He was going to take Cooper straight to another friend's house since he (Cooper's dad) had a date with his new girlfriend. Once we got there, Mom ordered a Spicy McChicken for herself, a Grand Mac and large fries for Isabella, who's always hungry, and double cheeseburgers for Cooper and I, mine plain and dry, meaning no ketchup or pickles or stuff like that. Blegh.

Cooper's dad wasn't here by the time Isabella was half finished, so my mom texted him. Isabella was super upset because at the time, they were testing Grand Mac and Mac Junior in Texas, and she had just come to the conclusion that they wouldn't have them in New York. We tried to comfort her while we waited for Cooper's dad to text back.

He did around ten minutes before our flight. "Plans changed. Take Cooper with you. Ticket is on me," Mom read.

"Oh my god!" Isabella and I exclaimed at the same time. We're weird like that. Cooper grinned.

Luggage was a slight problem, until Cooper's grandmother, a really nice lady who was only in her fifties, brought a suitcase she had packed. She had even included his favorite stuffed animal, a cat he called Bubbles. We had a good laugh over that. Mom revealed that those suitcases were actually filled with clothes for her, Isabella, and me.

On the plane, Cooper, Isabella and I sat on one side of the isle. Isabella got the window seat. Mom sat on the other side next to a college-age guy. Mom bought us pretzels and a Sprite for Isabella. Cooper and I stockpiled ideas for prank calling Lilly. Isabella chipped in every once in a while, but the pop top had come off of her soda can and she was trying to open it with her teeth.

I eventually decided to pretend I was giving her a trial version of a fashion magazine. Knowing Lilly, I figured she would say yes, then I would mail her a selfie we took that I had printed out, in which she looked really irritated, with a note saying something like "Remember me?" As I predicted, she agreed enthusiastically. The exchange went something like this:

Me (in a really good British accent): Hello, would you like a free trial issue of Style Today magazine? It's totally free for one issue.

Lilly: "Style Today? Is it a fashion magazine?"

Me: "It is! Would you like a free trial issue?"

Lilly: "Sure!"

Me: "Alright. What's your name and address?"

Lilly: (This information has been withheld for Lilly's safety.)

Me: "And your email address, please."

Lilly: (Withheld. Lilly doesn't really use her email, but still.)

Me: "Thanks! You'll be receiving your free trial issue of Style Today within four to six weeks. Have a great day!"

As soon as Lilly hung up (without saying thanks), Cooper burst out laughing. "Style Today? That's a terrible magazine name! And you mentioned it was free three times!"

I shrugged. "I've always thought people who give magazine trials would stress that. And Style Today is a wonderful name." Cooper just rolled his eyes. I hoped they had magazine-sized envelopes somewhere near our hotel.

 **I'm going to copy and past a couple more chapters that I already have written out and then go to bed.**

 **Fun Fact: My spell checker used to say "y'all" is not a word. The "Add to Dictionary" button fixed that.**


	2. A Flight Attendant Tries to Kill Me

**Thanks for the review! :)**

 **I have one more pre-made chapter to post, then updates will start taking a little longer.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, unfortunately. He, his peeps, and his existence belong to Rick Riordan. I don't own Narnia, either ;-;  
**

Maybe an hour and forty-five minutes later, after Mom had fallen asleep, a flight attendant offered us more pretzels. When Cooper said no, she insisted. We had to say no a few times before she stopped asking.

We thought she was going to leave, but instead she snapped her manicured fingers. Everyone except Cooper, Isabella, and me fell asleep instantly. "Well, girlie," the flight attendant said to me. "You're a special one. Master is awakening. He'd love it if I brought you to him alive, but I'm opposed to the company you keep." With this, she growled at Isabella.

"I am excellent company!" Isabella cried indignantly, throwing her empty Sprite can at the attendant. She caught it with ease and examined it. A huge chunk was missing, like it had melted at the attendant's touch.

"You've got spirit, little one. You're a terrible protector, though," she said. She pointed at the college-age guy next to Mom.

He jumped up and shoved me over. He was about to punch me when the flight attendant lunged at Isabella and so I did the only thing I could think of: using the college guy as a springboard and launching myself at her. I knocked her into her cart, covering both of us with sodas and snacks. She shoved me off, righted herself, and roared with anger. Slowly, her face drained of all color until it was chalky white. Her eyes glowed bright red. When she spoke, I could see two huge fangs in her mouth.

" _You pretzel!_ This is a brand new dress! I usually restrain myself to men, but I think I'll make an exception for you, girlie!" she screamed.

I didn't have time to think why she had called me a pretzel, or why a she had two different legs: one a metallic bronze, the other a chicken leg. She was surprisingly fast despite this. To demonstrate her power, I guess, or maybe just to grab a snack since you should never fight on an empty stomach, she jumped at the college guy and bit him. It was really, really gross. I wouldn't wish that death on my worst enemy. The poor guy's skin melted off him, and the vampire ate him alive. The bones deteriorated as they were exposed.

Once I got over my shock – the vampire seriously waited for me to attack her – I kicked at the chicken leg, since it didn't look very sturdy. I was right. The vampire tumbled back into the heap of concessions. Cooper grabbed a really heavy hardcover book, like a dictionary, from someone's lap and smashed it into the bronze leg, denting it. She howled in pain. Cooper whacked the bronze leg again, and I stomped on the chicken leg. I heard a _bang_ and a sickening _crack_.

The vampire screamed. "I am Jane, Princess of _Empousai_! No one breaks my beautiful legs!" she wailed. She struggled to get up and failed, and I realized her legs were broken. Isabella pulled out a dagger the same color as the bronze leg and stuck it into Jane's chest, taking great care to avoid the flailing arms. Cracks spread across Jane's body like she was made of porcelain, then she turned into sand that melted into the carpet. All that was left was a very badly dented bronze leg. I put it under my seat. As soon as we sat down, everyone except Mom woke up and resumed whatever they were doing like nothing had happened.

Cooper and I were really freaked out, but all we could do was sit there and wonder how Isabella's knife had gotten through security, or why no one seemed to notice the broken cart and heap of concessions in the middle of the aisle. Isabella seemed to know, but she was practically in shock. She kept muttering things in what sounded like Spanish.

She was a bit better by the time we landed, but she was still shaken. She made sure we were the last ones to get off, then grabbed the bronze leg and gave Mom a business-card-sized rectangle that apparently had a phone number on it. Mom blinked when she saw the leg, as if a bit confused, then she took out her phone and called someone. She whispered something, and whoever was on the other end must have asked her to speak up, because she said, "I can't, the kids are right next to me." Then she started whispering again.

After a few minutes of whispering, she said, "Alright, see you there," and hung up.

"What was that about?" I asked as we walked to the taxi pick up area.

"Just a hotel change," she said nervously. Her expression led me to think otherwise.

"What's wrong? Why do we have to change hotels?" I said.

"Don't ask questions, Emily Cadence," she snapped. My face must have shown some degree of fear since she never snapped at me, and she softened. "Please don't ask. Please."

"Alright," I said, although all I could think of was questions.

We got into the taxi. No one said anything except Isabella, who kept muttering in Spanish and making weird gestures with her hands. We were supposed to be going to a nice hotel in Manhattan, but instead Mom told the driver to stay on Long Island. She gave him the card from earlier. He raised his eyebrows briefly, but he drove to the address on the card.

After about an hour and a half and exactly three "Pick Your Own Strawberries" signs, we were in a heavily wooded area that didn't look like it could have even a rustic hotel within ten miles. Mom usually pays for everything with cash, but she didn't have enough to pay the driver. She had to use her debit card.

The second I stepped out of the car, I heard an ear-splitting screech. The taxi driver looked towards the sound and started to drive away, and I freaked out. A huge bat-like thing was flying toward us at the speed of a falcon diving (which can be over 200 miles per hour) and I desperately wanted something bigger than a tree to hide behind. And as I thought this, the taxi just stopped.

I wanted to put up my hands and say "Hold everything, what the heck just happened?" but we still had a 100-pound bat after us. I motioned Cooper and my mom under the car. Isabella was scared out of her wits, but for whatever reason she had that bronze knife, and I was unarmed.

"I'll act as a diversion, try to get it to follow me. You can, like, throw your knife or something," I told her. She nodded.

"Two attacks in a day," she muttered. "You and Cooper must really be special." I didn't pay much attention. Instead I ran to the left, towards a large hill with a tall pine tree. My instinct told me to stay away, but it was also telling me to run as fast as I could and leave my friends and Mom in the dust. So I moved towards it.

Like I had hoped, the bat chased me. It was even uglier close up. I could see now its face was human. It looked a bit like the attorney Mom had hired when she divorced the guy she had married when she was adopting me. "Bella, throw!" I yelled. She did.

Her aim wasn't the best.

The knife hit the bat, which I had nicknamed Mr. Biblio, the name of the lawyer, in the wing. He spiraled towards the ground. I was hoping that he would crack and turn into sand like the vampire did, but no such luck. He hit the ground and almost instantly popped back up again, hopping on one foot while holding a whip in the other. He didn't have very good balance, and he would have been pretty funny to watch, except for the flaming leather strip threatening to kill me. It was really quiet for a moment as we looked at each other, then the bat thing said in a voice somewhere between gravelly and screeching, "You're favored by my master's enemy." I was quite relieved that he was holding off killing me.

"Sorry about that. I don't choose my sponsors, you know," I told him. "Who is this Master, anyway?"

"My master, you'll find out soon enough. And the one the _empousa,_ Jane, mentioned... he'll contact you when the time is right. You're quite interesting. Neither I nor my sisters nor any of my master's army will harm you until they know your allegiance. And it will be a hard choice, Emily Cadence. Also, I am a female. Don't confuse me with your Mr. Biblio."

With that, she erupted in flames.

Isabella stood frozen where she stood. She blinked once, and the taxi drove off. Luckily, Mom and Cooper had already gotten out of the way. "What... what was that?" I asked Isabella.

"A Kindly One. We'd better cross the border. Just over the hill," she replied. She handed a wad of cash to my mom. "That's $100," she said. "Should pay for another taxi."

"Hold it," I said. "My mom is coming."

Isabella sighed. "She can't come in, Emily."

"She's coming," I told her.

"Mortals typically shouldn't enter, but you're not going in without her, are you?"

I crossed my arms and tried to save the questions about mortals for a later time.

Isabella looked at Mom and said, "I, Isabella Buzzard, give you permission to enter camp. Now come on."

Cooper asked the questions for me as we walked in. "What did you mean by 'mortals?' Why does Mrs. Parkenson need permission to come in here? What was that bat thing? Hey, that doesn't look like a hotel." He pointed at an Ancient-Greek style building.

It was the Parthenon if it had been built in the 21st century. Stuff was hung on the pillars, inside and out, or scattered around it - everything from paper-plate-and-Popsicle-stick sculptures to giant marble statues of people and animals. Strawberry fields extended to the left. A river threaded through the area, coming from Long Island Sound and going into the woods that we had come from.

I was about to ask Isabella what the heck was going on, but she was already trotting down the hill towards a large blue house.

Wait.

 _Trotting?_

Isabella carried her cowgirl boots in one arm and her jeans in the other. I blinked, pinched myself, rubbed my eyes, everything I could think of, but I wasn't imagining it. Isabella had goat legs. She was a faun – straight out of _The Lion, the Witch, and_ _the Wardrobe._ I stood there for a minute, then ran to catch up.

"Isabella," I shouted. She stopped and turned around. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Isabella blushed beet red.

"Oh. Sorry. I, uh, should have told you earlier."

"Y-You're a faun," I stammered. "Like from Narnia."

Isabella looked at me indignantly. "Faun? _Fauns_ are Roman. _I_ am a satyr. And Narnia is not where fauns came from."

I blinked intelligently. Isabella sighed again. "Come on. Chiron will want to see you." I followed, too dumbfounded to argue.

Cooper, of course, kept asking questions. "Chiron?" Who's that? Is he, like, the guy who owns this place? How would you spell Chiron? K-Y-R-O-N? K-I-R-O-N?"

"It's C-H-I-R-O-N," Isabella said. "And you'll get to meet him if you stop asking questions."

That shut him up.

 **MY BROTHER IS AT CAMP ALL WEEK! WHOO! He won't be hogging the computer so it'll be easier to post regularly. Come Saturday, expect less frequent posts.**


	3. I See the Grape Room

**We've hit 5,000 words! *recorded cheering***

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except most of my books. And my clothes. Oh, and the flash drive that I keep my writing, art, and funny memes on.**

Chiron was an older man, maybe 45. He had a short beard and an orange t-shirt with a pegasus and some Greek writing. He had a motorized wheelchair that was decorated like a white horse and liked to read. Chiron, not the wheelchair. Cooper and I both thought he was pretty cool. Isabella introduced us as Cooper Buzzard and Emily Cadence Lasicola-Parkenson, "the ones you had me – oh." That last part was because Chiron gave her The Look, the kind that an adult will give you when they think you're talking too much even though you're not.

"Hello, Cooper. Emily Cadence." He greeted us with a nod. "I've been looking forward to your visit. Now, if you could come inside –"

"Um, Chiron," I said, "we've had a really weird day, so could you please fill us in on why we're being attacked by vampires and talking lawyer bats?"

Chiron blinked, then looked at Isabella. "An _empousa_ and a Kindly One, and you didn't let me know?"

Isabella's eyes filled with tears. _Not again_ , I thought. Isabella started crying every time she made even the smallest mistake.

"They – they were with me the whole time. I didn't have a chance," she sniffled. "And the Kindly One attacked right before we crossed."

"You're calling that thing kind? It tried to dive-bomb us!" Cooper protested.

"She seemed very kind when she let me go," I countered.

Cooper was about to make a withering retort – yeah, right - when Chiron interrupted. "She let you go?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," I said. "She tried to kill me, then Bella –"

"Wait," Chiron said. "Start at the beginning, from when you left for the airport."

I did. I left out the part about Bubbles, just so Cooper would owe me something. He seemed very grateful, probably not stopping to think about my motives. I'm quite the evil genius when I want to be.

Chiron was silent for a moment after I finished. Isabella eyed a deck of cards on a nearby table like she wanted to eat it.

"Well," Chiron said finally, "I don't suppose either of you have ADHD or dyslexia?"

"I have ADHD," I said. "Cooper has ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia."

"Dys-cal-cu-lia," Isabella said slowly, as if tasting the word. "What does that mean again?"

"It's a math learning disorder," Chiron said. "Interesting. I've never seen that in a demigod before. I wonder what the use might be." I had to bite my lip to stop myself from belting out thirteen million questions, and I put my hand over Cooper's mouth as soon as it opened for the same reason.

"If he wants to tell us, he will," I told him. He nodded and I took my hand away. "Be good," I said. He just grinned. I probably should have put my hand back, but I was afraid my face was bright red and didn't want anyone to notice.

"Now that you've told me your story, I think you should hear ours," he said and drove his wheelchair inside, obviously meaning for us to follow.

 _Ours?_ I mouthed at Cooper as we walked in, but he shrugged. He pointed at Isabella, but before I could say anything we were in a very grapey room and Chiron was asking us to sit. By grapey I mean there were grapes. Everywhere. There were grape vines on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, even the area surrounding a stuffed and mounted leopard head, which snarled menacingly as soon as I made eye contact. Cooper and I both jumped back, and he screamed like a little girl. He wouldn't like me saying that, but it's true!

"Oh, that's just Seymour," Chiron said as he tossed a dog treat at it. It snapped it up greedily and swallowed. I didn't want to know where it went, since Seymour was just a head. Ugh.

"Now, please sit down," Chiron said. "The couch is really quite sturdy."

I looked behind me. The couch was made of grape vines with clusters of ripe grapes everywhere. I would have eaten one, but I like my grapes cold.

Mom carefully sat down and the couch held her, so the rest of us all flopped onto it at once, exhausted.

"Isabella, please take Cooper to the theater room. I have a bit of talking to do," Chiron said. Isabella led Cooper towards an adjacent room.

"Now, Miss Emily Cadence," he said, turning to me. "First, let me show you something. This comes as a great shock to everyone, so please don't panic." He glanced at the wall behind him. "Once a camper nearly lost his mind. Cost us the paint on that area of the wall."

I didn't ask.

Chiron started to get out of his wheelchair. My brain took a second to register this. _Wait,_ it said. _Isn't he paralyzed? If he can walk, why does he even use the wheelchair?_ Chiron was getting up very slowly, as if he was stuck to the chair. A blanket fell away from his legs – which were still in the wheelchair. They were plastic or something. I looked at his real legs. He seemed to be wearing white tights, only they didn't look exactly right. Within a few seconds, Chiron was way too tall to be human. I was thinking he must have been another monster when I was surprised out of my thoughts.

Chiron lifted a leg out of the fake wheelchair.

A horse leg.

I wanted to call for Isabella and her knife, but Chiron would probably get there first. Chiron stopped, as if reading my thoughts. "I'm not a monster, you know. If you don't kill me now, I'll explain everything."

I nodded and he pulled another horse leg out, then two more. When he finished, there was a centaur in what I'm going to call the grape room.

I stared for a minute. "I'm in Narnia now? Is that it? Because that's what it seems like," I said.

"Not Narnia, Emily Cadence. Have you ever heard of the Greek gods?" he asked.

"Gods? You're telling me..." I trailed off. It _did_ make sense. The vampire. I read something that had an ancient Greek vampire disguised as a cheerleader when I was six or seven. I probably shouldn't have been reading it until now, but I was always a rather advanced reader.

Before that, I read a book that had a human-bat. I remembered the main characters of both books being similar. Maybe it was a series.

"It makes sense," I said. "From what little I know about Greek mythology, my situation fits perfectly. But what do I have to do with it? I'm not a hero. I don't belong in Greek mythology."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. I had surprised him. "You're taking it... much better than most," he said. "As for what you have to do with it, you are indeed a hero. You and your friends saved a plane full of mortals from an _empousa_ without destroying the plane. Heroes have killed _empousai_ before, of course, but never without obliterating their surroundings."

I had stopped listening. My mind was working through one word he had said: _mortals._ If I remembered correctly, this was a prominent word in that series I had read. It meant human.

"You say mortals as if I'm not. Isabella said it to my mom earlier – that mortals weren't supposed to cross the border. What did you mean by that?"

"Do you know what the gods' favorite thing to do when they were on earth was?" Chiron said.

I thought about it for a minute, and managed to come up with an answer.

"No," I said.

"They liked to... ah... 'hook up' with mortals. From these relationships come children called demigods, half-mortal, half-god. You and your friend Cooper are children like these."

"You know, I read a book series about that once. I wonder if the author was a demigod," I said to no one in particular. Chiron answered anyway.

"It wouldn't happen to be about Percy Jackson, would it?"

"That's it!" I said. "I had been trying to remember the main character's name but I couldn't. Thanks."

"Of course. When did you last read these books?"

"I was eight, I think. There were three books in the series so far, and I think there were supposed to be more, but I could never find the third one. So all the stuff in Percy Jackson is real?" I asked.

"Yes. And all the characters, too. Most of them are gone until next summer, however."

My eyes must have been the size of saucers. "Percy Jackson is _real?_ He was my hero! That's so cool!"

Cooper entered the room with an amazed look on his face. "This is so cool!" he echoed. "There are books about this entire place? And my mom is a goddess? Y'all have blown my mind!"

Chiron looked worried for a moment, then he relaxed. "You children and your expressions. For a moment I thought you meant literally."

 **The text sizes are totally wrong in the Doc Manager. It's huge at the top and tiny at the bottom. It's annoying.**

 **Also - I'm going to be incorporating Nico di Angelo soon. He is _not_ gay. You may stop reading and hate me forever if you like. :D**


	4. I Find a New Crush

**I have been super inactive! I am SO SO SORRY! Here's another chapter :)**

I thought over what Cooper had said. I was so excited about eventually meeting my childhood hero, I had totally missed the part about my dad being a god. It was pretty cool that I'd get to meet my birth dad (well, eventually, probably), but if my memory was working right, some of the gods were jerks. If one of them was my dad, that would most certainly _not_ be cool.

But I shrugged it off. I probably wouldn't be claimed for a long time, according to the books. And then Chiron said something else:

"The campfire is in an hour, so you two should get situated. It's likely you'll be claimed tonight. Isabella, would you take them on the tour?" Isabella and Cooper started to walk away, but I stayed.

"Tonight?" I said. "What do you mean, tonight? In the books, it could take years to get claimed. Anyone who would write something like that wouldn't leave out a detail that important."

"You've only read through the second book, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, and a little in the fourth," I said, still confused.

"After the Titan war, the gods agreed to grant Percy Jackson any wish as long as it was within their power. He asked that all demigods who came to camp would be claimed as soon as possible, at least before they're thirteen. You two are only twelve, but your parents will probably want to get claiming you out of the way as soon as possible." He seemed to realize how that sounded and added, "So they don't forget."

That still sounded pretty bad, but I tried to look at the glass as half-full. Maybe I would get the god of _Star Wars._ Or Hermes, the god of pranks. I could see myself as his daughter.

Then again, I could get Ares or, gods forbid, Aphrodite. I mean this with all possible respect, but that would suck. Gods, I just realized how good I am at going from optimist to pessimist very quickly. Huh.

Anyway, another satyr appeared in the doorway. "Come on, Bella! We're having a satyrs-only game of volleyball."

I wanted to come since I'm actually fairly okay at volleyball, but I probably wasn't a satyr. Probably. I had been discovering a lot of weird things about myself lately. So I decided to sit by the volleyball court and try to figure out how the satyrs managed to keep from falling over on their tiny little hooves.

Before anyone could get excited, Chiron intervened, to Bella's despair. "Isabella, you have new campers to take care of."

The other satyr grinned. "I remember my first assignment. I had Will Solace. He was practically giving himself the tour."

"Wait, we're your first assignment?" Cooper asked.

"Well, technically Emily was, but you happened to be a demigod as well. So I brought you too. And yeah, y'all were my first. Did I do good?" Isabella asked hopefully.

"In my opinion, you did great for a first time and probably for a fiftieth as well. You probably saved our lives a lot more than we realize," I told her.

The other satyr snickered. "Y'all. That is the most hilarious OW!" That last part was because I kicked his shin. With my cowgirl boots. A good rule of thumb: Don't get kicked in the shins by a gymnast in cowgirl boots, especially when that gymnast has been doing it for six years and has built up some muscle. Did I forget to mention that I do two classes a week? If so, sorry. Now you know.

"Don't mess with Texas," I said. "Now Bella, we have a tour to attend to?" I gave her a fist bump.

"Indeed. Let's see... that is a blade of grass. That's another blade of grass, and there's a rock," she said, pointing out the various tourist attractions. The rock actually seemed to have some admirers. "But seriously, there are 14 cabins at the moment. The twelve Olympians, Hades, and they're still working on the Hecate cabin. Steer clear of that one at least until they've finished building. If they drop a stone, it turns everyone within five yards into a tree."

I gulped. "Steering clear."

"Which one is that?" Cooper asked, pointing at one that looked like a huge bank.

"Zeus, right? Thalia lives there?" I asked.

"Yes and no," Isabella said. "Yes, that's Cabin One. Zeus. No, nobody lives there at the moment. Thalia became a Hunter of Artemis to avoid being the child of the Great Prophecy."

"Um..." I raised my hand. "I don't know the prophecy. Has it been fulfilled?"

Isabella sighed like she got this all the time. " _A half-blood of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul cursed blade shall reap._ That's the first Great Prophecy, issued sometime around the beginning of the Roman Empire. Percy Jackson fulfilled it on his sixteenth birthday, letting Luke Castellan destroy Kronos with Annabeth Chase's dagger. It was cursed because Luke had broken his promise to Annabeth, and-"

"Okay, let's continue," I said. "Sounds interesting, but we have other stuff to get to."

Isabella pouted. "Okay, fine. That one next to Zeus is Cabin Two, Hera's cabin. She's the goddess of marriage and all that, so it's just honorary. She'd probably destroy the camp if she didn't have one. Same with Artemis, over there." She pointed to a cabin that looked like it was made entirely from silver. "It's mostly unused, but the Hunters of Artemis do come by on occasion." Her tone said the Hunters' visits were not up for discussion.

"There's Cabin Three, Poseidon. Percy stays there whenever he visits. Next to it is Five, Ares. You might want to steer clear of that one as well." As if on cue, a very loud argument that probably involved punching, kicking and at least one sword broke out. We moved on.

"That one is Apollo. That's where you go if you have a minor illness or injury. The infirmary is for the big stuff," Isabella explained. I refrained from asking the extents of "big stuff."

"Right there is Hephaestus. Eleven is Hermes. We call it Prank Central. Cooper, you really want Hermes to be your dad. Emily, pray to all the gods he's not yours." The situation in there must have been really chaotic if she didn't want _me_ in there. I decided not to peek in the windows.

"How would Hermes be my dad? My dad is normal- I mean, mortal," Cooper asked.

Isabella grimaced. "The gods work in mysterious and disgusting ways."

Nobody asked what that meant.

"There's Cabin Twelve. Pollux and... just Pollux lives there," Isabella said.

"Who's its patron?" Cooper said, oblivious to Bella's slip.

"Mr. D. It's horrible on Father's Day, at least for poor Pollux. He ignores everyone else and bugs Pollux all day, wanting more sacrifices and a grape print tie and all that. Not fun."

We stopped in front of a building made of obsidian (I assumed it was obsidian, from my years of playing Minecraft.) with torches that burned green. "That's Cabin..." I counted on my fingers, pretty sure we were out of male Olympians. I was right. "Thirteen? My math is not the best, but I'm pretty sure there are only twelve gods."

"Twelve Olympians," Isabella corrected. "There are hundreds of gods. That's Hades' cabin. Nico di Angelo stays there maybe every other month or so. He likes to roam, and that's fine with pretty much everyone. He doesn't have many friends."

That sounded like a sad way to live. "Is he there now?" I asked.

"Last I checked. Let's go look at the other cabins."

Before we could turn around, the door opened, and my heart skipped a beat. Yes, I know I said I have a crush on Cooper, but standing in the doorway was the hottest guy in the history of the world. Shaggy black hair, olive skin, black jeans and a black t-shirt with four dancing skeletons. About my age, too, maybe a couple months into twelve. I was about to say something smart, like, "Uhh," when he stepped out.

"What are you staring at?" For a moment I thought he was talking to me, and the worst part was, I would have answered and officially made a fool of myself when Isabella spoke.

"Couple new campers. I'm showing them around. You know, we still have the other side to look at. Come on, guys!" She dragged us off in a hurry and I just had time to look back and smile before Nico closed the door. I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw him smile back.

"Why don't people like him?" I demanded.

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "You'll learn soon enough. He's _creepy._ He hangs at the edge of everything, in the dark. He doesn't participate. He speaks up only when he feels like it, scares the living Hades out of everyone. And to us satyrs –" She lowered her voice. "He smells like death."

"Well, of course he does! He's the son of Hades! What do you expect?"

"You haven't heard the stories. He can summon skeletons with a word. He can travel in shadows. Once," she shuddered, "he brought a wall of black stone just by raising his hand."

"So? Those sound like useful abilities to me."

Isabella rolled her eyes and led us toward the other cabins. I glanced at Cooper, who was looking at me with an odd expression. Something between jealousy, thoughtfulness, and curiosity. Maybe he _did_ have a crush on me. Hmm.

I would tell you about the rest of the tour, but it was really, really boring. Plus, you probably already know it all. In case you don't here's the short version: Two is Hera, Four is Demeter, Six is Athena, Eight is Artemis, and Ten is Aphrodite. Oh, and Hecate. Nobody is sure what number that one is yet, if it's fourteen or twenty. I didn't ask for details. Hey, don't get mad at me! My brain was too overloaded. Go check the Percy Jackson wiki or something.

Isabella showed us everything – Rachel Dare's cave, the arts and crafts cabin/Parthenon hybrid, the armory. The amphitheater was my favorite. I found a little hideaway under the stone seats – if you went around to the back and pressed your hand against a Greek omega, a door opened onto a small room – thirty square feet at most and curved, like the amphitheater. The ceiling was like upside-down stairs from the seats above. At one end, a full-size mattress sat atop a built-in stone bed, with white sheets, a huge black comforter, and about twenty very large, very fluffy black-and-white pillows. A zebra-striped rectangular rug that had apparently been made for this room was on the floor, since it matched the curve of the inside wall perfectly.

I know what you're thinking: _Please, Emily, no more hyphenated words!_ Fine. I will use no more of these words because I am a kind and generous being. You're welcome.

At the other end of the room, there was a black wood desk with a rolling desk chair in front of it. The chair was so cool – it was an orb covered in white fabric, supported by a metal ring with three wheels. I spent about ten minutes spinning around on it before I noticed a note on the bed. The date said it was from years ago. I picked it up and read it aloud.

"Dear Camper, This is my bedroom. My name is Julia Chisolm. I'm a 34-year-old female satyr, the only one of my kind that I know of."

"The only one?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah, we're pretty rare. We're kind of good-luck charms. If your baby is a female satyr, Hera has blessed you. Makes baby showers crazy." Isabella explained.

I continued. "Having recently gotten my searcher's license, I'm going to search for Pan. If I don't come back, you can have my room for as long as you want. Afterwards, make sure to clean it up and pass it on. I'm taking my boyfriend Eddy Scrabble, son of Demeter, with me. If I die, he'll plant me in the garden of the Big House. If you're reading this, I'm dead now. Ask Chiron which plant is Julia Chisolm, and where Eddy Scrabble is. I think he'd like to see this note. May the gods go with you, Julia."

"That's creepy," Cooper muttered.

"Yeah," Isabella said as she munched one of her wristbands. "Creepier than Nico di Angelo."

I glared at her. "Should we talk to Chiron?"

"I think I remember a story about her. She never came back from her search," Isabella said.

That ended that conversation.

 **UGH. The text sizes are wrong again. I know it won't matter when I publish it but my brain doesn't like it. Also, I accidentally left out the note last time! I've included it now. Sorry! Also, random: What would be a good ship name for Leo Valdez and Piper McLean? (Don't hate me, I ship Jasper all the way. Just asking.) Mine is PipeShizzle.  
**


	5. I Do Not Like Bacon

**I've kind of hit a brick wall, so this one's not my best. Sorry!**

Isabella put Cooper in the Hermes cabin. With the recent war, they had a couple empty bunks. She sat with me in Julia's, I mean, my room.

"Who do you think your dad is?" she asked.

"I think Apollo. I'm okay with music, and I'm actually pretty good at archery," I replied.

"That would make sense," Isabella agreed. "Once, though, everyone thought this one kid was a son of Aphrodite, and it turned out to be Hephaestus. You never know."

"Or maybe I'll get the god of _Star Wars,_ " I said.

"Apollo. God of movies."

"The god of writing."

"Apollo."

"Uh... first-aid? I'm pretty good at that."

"Apollo."

I looked out of the open door and said the first thing I saw, which happened to be Rachel's cave. "Prophecy?"

"That would be Apollo," Isabella said.

"Oh, heck. Is there anything Apollo _isn't_ the god of?" I asked.

Isabella stared at me blankly. "Of course. That's what the other gods are for."

I face-palmed and flopped onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "How's your family?" I asked.

Isabella was quiet for a second, and I sensed I'd hit a sensitive topic. "My dad was Ferdinand Underwood. You know Grover? I'm his cousin on the satyr side. Dad went off to search for Pan a few years ago. He never came back."

"Oh." I wanted to say _I'm sorry,_ but those words were so overused. It would sound so fake. "That stinks."

Isabella smiled sadly. "True. At least my mom is fine. She's an oak dryad, one of the servers at the dining pavilion. Oaks last a long time, and dryads last as long as their trees do. We celebrated Mom's 137th birthday last week."  
"Wow. I don't mean to call your mom old, but... that's old," I said.

"Oh, it's really not. Mom's about the equivalent of a thirty-five-year-old. Her species has an average lifespan of two to three hundred years," she explained.

"Wow. Does she ever tell you stories about the 18..." I did the math. "...80s?"

"No. She was little then. She tells me about the World Wars sometimes, though. And the Civil War."

"Wait, wasn't that in the 1860s? She's older than that, right?" I asked.

"Her mom told her stories," Isabella said.

"Oh." I tried to think of something else to discuss, but I couldn't. We'd hit what I call a conversational wall: we had reached the end of a topic, and no one had anything else to talk about.

We sat there until Isabella checked her watch. If we were quick, we'd be able to make it to the dining pavilion before dinner. So we ran. To say we got there in the nick of time is an understatement. Chiron had literally just blown the conch horn for dinner when we arrived, breathless and sweaty. I took the spot right next to the head of the Hermes table, which was conveniently labeled with a large number 11. Within a minute, the rest of the campers had made their way to the pavilion and looked very surprised to see that the new girl had gotten there before them. I grinned and waved to Cooper. He, aware of my incredible speed, was unfazed by my early arrival. A boy around fourteen started to sit next to me, but a guy who I assumed was the head counselor intervened.

"Gus, this table has rules. Rule _numero uno:_ Thou shalt not sit next to an unclaimed camper without permission. Rule _numero dos:_ Thou shalt not sit next to a lady without permission. Rule _numero_ three _:_ Unclaimed campers get first choice of seats. Then camp counselors. Then everyone else. Then people who break the rules. Such as thou," he said.

"I like those rules," I decided. Cooper, knowing a little Spanish, looked quite confused, probably because the guy didn't use the Spanish word for three. I, of course, was right.

"Why didn't you say _tres_ instead of three?" he asked.

The counselor grinned. "We recently added the third rule. The only Spanish words I know are _numero, uno,_ and _dos._ "

The head counselor's twin, probably co-head counselor, poked him. "And _hola._ Anyway, Lord Cooper." He bowed and gestured to the table. Cooper plopped down next to me.

"Whoa, Coop. Rules _numeros uno y_ _dos,_ " a camper warned.

"It's okay. She knows me, don't you, EmCay?" Cooper teased.

I elbowed him. "Yeah, I know you, you overgrown... uh... let me think of something."

I was instantly drenched in a shower of suggestions. Stymphalian bird and worm seemed to be the most popular. Unsure what a Stymphalian bird was, I picked worm. Cooper just laughed.

Dinner was pulled pork sandwiches and salad. Here's another random fact about me: I am super picky. Like, spaghetti and meatballs? Nope. Mashed potatoes? No way. Pulled pork and salad? Not. Gonna. Happen, and not just because I hate salad. I would love the sandwich, except I don't do pig products. In my opinion, pigs are too smart to be eaten. Feel free to kill me now.

I asked the dryad who served me for Cheerios. She did a double take, than complied. See, this is why I make my own meals. It's kind of a natural human thing. Someone asks for breakfast cereal for dinner, you look at her weird when she asks and then you look at her weird when you bring it. If someone makes her own breakfast cereal for dinner, you only look at her weird once and can spend your time on other things. Win-win.

Cooper didn't look at me weird. Like I said, he knows me.

Everyone got up and walked to the table at the head of the pavilion. I had almost forgotten: We needed to do the sacrifice thingy. I was last in line, right behind Cooper. When it was my turn, I burned a spoonful of the least soggy Cheerios and said a prayer: _Please claim me tonight and please don't be Ares or Hephaestus or Aphrodite or Demeter. No offense._

Once we were all back in our seats, Chiron (in horse form) stomped his hoof. "Heroes! I have heard rumors that the bonfire is off tonight. They are false. The weekly bonfire will be held as usual."

Everyone cheered except a few kids at the Ares table. I assumed they had been the ones spreading the rumor.

"Also, we have two new campers, Cooper Buzzard and Emily Cadence." He gestured to the Hermes table. I waved. Cooper, the drama king, stood and took a bow, making everyone laugh.

"We will not have a climbing wall race this week," Chiron continued. "The Apollo cabin has requested that they be stopped because of the increased number of injuries last week." I could have sworn he glanced at a little kid at the Hephaestus table. "Now, let us eat! To the gods!" The campers repeated the chant.

"So," said the taller head counselor. He and his twin were sharing the seat at the head of the table, and they were constantly shoving each other. The taller one got shoved less, which was good because he was the one next to me. "I'm Travis. The doofus here is Connor."

"You're the doofus!" Connor argued and shoved Travis.

Travis shoved him back and continued. "We're not twins, if that's what you were thinking. Everyone does. I'm older."

"No, I'm older!" Connor complained. Travis was ready for him this time and managed to fend off his shove. They started arguing, which looked pretty funny. If you ever see something funnier than two sixteen-year-olds (okay, one fifteen-year-old and one sixteen-year-old) arguing about who's older while sitting in a seat meant for one at the head of a table with six other kids, please let me know.

"Guys! Were you going to say something else?" I said. Glancing around, I noticed that most conversation had stopped and most people were either watching us or the Ares table, which was having a much larger argument that involved the whole table and flying lettuce. Don't ask.

I managed to get Travis's attention. "Oh, yeah," he said. "What did Cooper call you? Ennay?"

"It's EmCay, but only Cooper and Isabella-" I pointed to Bella up at the head table "- are allowed to call me that. My real name is Emily Cadence."

"My cousin's last name is Cadence," Gus muttered.

 _Here we go,_ I thought. "No, my first name is Emily Cadence. My last name is Lasicola-Parkenson."

Gus blinked. "You have four names?"

"Five. My middle name is Jennifer."

I could hear the salad fight at the Ares table while the Hermes campers tried to figure out my name.

"Your name is Emily Cadence Jennifer Lasicola-Parkenson?" Connor asked.

"Perfecto," I said.

Suddenly, a scream of rage silenced all other conversation. Apparently, someone had aimed their lettuce wrong and hit the head counselor of the Demeter cabin in the face. "Oh, crap," Travis said. And then all Hades broke loose.

Everyone's salad rose up from their plates and flew. Within seconds, the Ares table was buried – but not for long. The tallest of them – Clarisse La Rue, probably, if her loaded necklace and stringy light brown hair were any indication – launched herself at the Demeter girl. Chiron had to fire a fart arrow, which I could smell from the other end of the pavilion, to break up the combat. The two backed up, Clarisse with vines growing out of her combat boots and the girl from Demeter covered in bruises and dazed. Both of them had lettuce in their hair and on their clothes. Ranch dressing dripped from Clarisse's hair onto her face.

"Girls! We do _not_ initiate violence except in the training arenas, especially not over a piece of lettuce! Both of you have KP and stable-cleaning duty for a month! Will, please get Katie to the infirmary; it looks like she's about to lose consciousness. Clarisse, there are cleaning supplies in the kitchen. Please begin cleaning up the pavilion. The campfire is in one hour! All who are not busy-" here he looked pointedly at Clarisse "- may attend. Free time until the campfire. Please do not try to play basketball, as all our basketballs are currently deflated and you might get injured trying to play with something else. You are dismissed."

Despite Chiron's warning, a group of boys were trying to play basketball with someone's sneaker. Cooper and I sat down and counted how many times someone got hit in the head. At 24, his hand touched mine. By 26, we were holding hands. I lost count at 27. I was busy either being really happy that Cooper had made a gesture of affection, _finally,_ or being really confused about whether I liked Nico di Angelo or Cooper. Nico was really cute and obviously needed a friend, but I knew Cooper. We were best friends, and I'd had a crush on him for a while now.

I was just going to confuse myself more, so I put it out of my mind and decided to just enjoy being with Cooper. I'd think about it later. Eventually, another conch horn sounded, for the campfire, I assumed, and Cooper helped me up. I was about to grab my jacket, since it felt like it was 55 degrees, even though it was only September (hey, I'm used to Texas weather.), when Cooper put his arm around my shoulders and kissed me on the cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, but it wasn't at all what I expected: "EmCay, wake up."

My head snapped up. I was still sitting on a bench facing a now-empty basketball court. I had fallen asleep. My hand was still in Cooper's, so I assumed that had been real, but I was pretty sure I had dreamed the kiss. Bummer.

"Well, that was fast," Cooper muttered. "Come on, it's time for the campfire. Chiron said we're probably going to get claimed." He dropped his hand and stuck it in his pocket. Just like that. Insert frowny face.

At the campfire, we sang a lot of songs I didn't know, mainly about either grandparents or armor, or both. The campfire changed color and height as we sang, ranging from bright purple to blood red, and usually around twenty feet tall. I eventually deducted that it changed with the campers' moods, because it was purple when we were singing, lime green as the satyrs were passing out marshmallows, and red when a marshmallow fight broke out (near where the Ares cabin was sitting, of course). Everyone kept glancing at Cooper and I. I knew what they were thinking, because I was thinking it myself: _Why haven't the newbies been claimed yet?_

It did happen eventually, though. We were playing a game called the Never-Ending Story. Chiron started a story with a sentence, then pointed to someone, who said another sentence and pointed to someone else... you get the picture. When it got to Cooper, he stood up and was about to say something when a glowing white dove appeared over his head. I, not knowing what this meant, looked to Chiron.

"Hail, Cooper Buzzard," he said, "son of Aphrodite."

Cooper's expression was hilarious. He looked like someone had just told him Isabella was his sister while he was hanging upside-down by his feet – which is to say, surprised and bright red. More than one person – possibly including me – snickered.

Cooper sat down again, still blushing. Everyone stared expectantly at me, like, _One down, one to go_. It was starting to get uncomfortable when I realized they weren't expecting anything. They were surprised at something – _really_ surprised. I looked up. Above me was a spinning light tan circle with a black scythe in the middle. Dread coursed through me.

"Hail, Emily Cadence," he intoned. I was too surprised to even supply my last name. Even I knew what this meant. Chiron continued. "Daughter of Hades."


	6. I am the World's Best Daughter

**Sorry for cliffhanger. Also, that note at the end of Chapter 3 was a lie. Sorry.  
**

It felt wrong, to say the least.

I lay on my bed, which was outfitted with bedding already. This was good, as I hadn't brought a sleeping bag. It was very cozy. I had hung sheets from the upper bunk, so my bunk was its own little room. I could hear Nico snoring in the bed next to me.

I had figured there would be some kind of magical connection with my siblings. I didn't feel it with Nico. Either it didn't exist, or I had been misclaimed. I wished my dad would, like, send me an Iris-message or something and reveal himself, or just talk. For the first time in my life, I felt really lonely. I began to sing _Maybe_ from the 2014 remake of _Annie_ quietly. It was and still is one of my go-to songs for when I'm sad.

 _"Maybe far away; or maybe real nearby..."_

I didn't even realize Nico had woken up until he spoke.

"Wow, Emily. That was..."

"Thanks," I said.

"I'm serious," he said. "You have an incredible voice."

"Thanks," I repeated, my face burning. To me, my voice sounded average for a girl my age. I didn't usually sing when people could hear, for exactly this reason. I don't really like to be the center of attention.

"You know," Nico said. I yanked down one of the sheets to be able to see him. "I don't think you're my sister. There's no aura of death around you like there... um, never mind. But I think I would know if we were related."

"I was thinking that, too. Maybe I was misclaimed. Like, there's another daughter of Hades here and maybe Hades wasn't really paying attention, like, he was on Candy Crush or something-"

"Candy Crush?"

"Yeah. Maybe he accidentally claimed me instead of his real daughter," I said.

Nico blinked. "Candy Crush."

"Hey, Candy Crush is fun,"

"Well, I always thought Dad would be more of a Mythomagic guy."

"Mytho-what?"

"Mythomagic. It's a card game I used to like. It's like Pokémon, except with – er, whatever. Should we tell Chiron?" he asked.

"That would be good," I said through a yawn. "How about in the morning, though? It's, like, 11 p.m."

"True," Nico replied. "Goodnight, Emily."

"'Night," I said and flopped over, not even bothering to put the sheet back up. "See you tomorrow."

I learned something about myself that next day: I am in no way, shape or form a morning person.

Nico woke me up around 6:30, saying we had about an hour until breakfast. He looked really tired, and his hair was all crazy, sticking up all over the place. It was kind of cute.

Almost involuntarily, my hand rose to my head. I felt hair about three inches from my scalp, which was not good. "Is my hair as frizzy as it feels?" I asked.

"Yeah," Nico replied. "It looks like a giant bird's nest."

"Thought so. I hope Mom packed my hairbrush. See you in five minutes." I lay down again and waited until I was a little less tired, then got up and rummaged through my bag. Luckily, my light pink Wet Brush was at the bottom. _Mom, you're a lifesaver!_ I thought. Oh – Mom. I hadn't thought about her since I had left the Big House. Had she gone back to New York, or even back home? Had she spent the night at the Big House? I would ask Chiron before breakfast. Cursing myself for being such a terrible daughter, I headed for the bathroom. Whoever had built this cabin was very nice for including a private restroom. It would be quite embarrassing to go outside with my hair situation.

Speaking of which, let's take a moment to admire the incredible qualities of the marvelous Wet Brush. If your hair is longer than six inches and you don't own one already, Google it. You may thank me later.

Fifteen minutes and one broken bathroom door (long story) later, Nico and I were ready to go. We headed toward the Big House, stopping briefly at the Aphrodite cabin to ask about Cooper.

"Oh, the poor dear is still asleep," the oldest of the girls cooed. "He had trouble getting to sleep last night. Don't worry, we'll get him up before breakfast. Oh, and by the way," she whispered, "everyone's pretty positive he has a crush on you. He kept saying your name in his sleep."

I thought Nico stiffened at that. I hoped not. My weekend had been crazy enough already, and I did _not_ need to be in a love triangle. Maybe in a few years.

The girl grinned at Nico and winked at me. Then she spun on her heel and walked to the back of the cabin, shoving a girl around my age out of the way. She opened the bathroom door with a flourish and a "Move your behind, Lacy. It's my bathroom time!"

"That's Drew Tanaka," Nico explained as we continued our mission. "You do not want to get on her bad side. She can curse – the magical kind – like you would not believe, and something about her voice... I've heard it's an Aphrodite thing. She can trick you into doing _anything._ "

I shuddered. "Advice taken."

By the time we had gotten to the creek, most of the campers were up and about. Nico and I hopped over – well, I hopped. Nico just took a couple large steps. Booooring.

Chiron was sitting on the porch in wheelchair form, playing a card game with three invisible people. He set down his cards when he noticed us.

"Good morning, Emily. Morning, Nico. Nice to see you about. What brings you here?" he asked.

Nico and I looked at each other. "You first," I said.

Nico didn't take long explaining. "With... Bianca, I knew she was a daughter of Hades. There was an aura of death surrounding her, like there is with me. I can't feel that with Emily. We're thinking she might have been misclaimed."

Chiron considered this for a moment. "I was suspicious of that. About 80 years ago, a son of Hades was claimed here, and the symbol wasn't anything like the one I saw over your head. And more recently, the first time I talked to her, Bianca told me about a symbol similar to the one from 1934 that appeared over her head."

Nico looked hurt. "She never told me about that."

"Percy told me about her reaction when Thalia told her about the gods. She may have simply been trying to protect you."

"Well, she didn't do a very good job," Nico muttered.

"Um, anyway. Who do you think my dad might be?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've really never seen a symbol like that before, except... well, no matter. Simply stay in the Hades cabin for now. Breakfast is soon. We can discuss this matter after breakfast," Chiron said.

"I did find Julia Chisolm's bedroom, under the amphitheater. There was a note saying to ask you about her."

He was silent for a second. "I will tell you about her... later. We have but ten minutes until breakfast. You'd best get ready."

It was obviously useless to argue, so we went over to the dining pavilion. They could have designed camp a little better – it took us eleven of our ten minutes to get there. And I didn't even play in the creek this time.

Breakfast was a lot more relaxed than dinner. There was a line up at the front, so you could pick what you wanted. People wandered around or sat at other people's tables. A few younger kids were having a Fruity Pebbles fight. Nico and I lined up behind a girl from the Aphrodite cabin. I recognized her as Lacy from last night, the one Drew had shoved.

She glanced back at us and whispered, "You better hope Cooper was misclaimed. Drew hates him. She didn't even wake him up while the rest of us were at the bathrooms. He had, like, ten minutes to get ready."

"I'm getting the impression that Drew is not the nicest person here," I replied.

"Oh, she's worse than Clarisse," Lacy said. I noticed that she sat down at the Hermes table, not the Aphrodite table.

I was delighted to find out that they had Cocoa Puffs. Maybe my bowl was a _little_ too full, but I had to have _some_ to sacrifice.

Nico laughed at me when I poured myself so much. I laughed at him when he got even more than me. It was nice to have a brother, even if he wasn't really. I'd just enjoy it while I could.

Cooper and Isabella sat with us at the Hades table. "Who's Julia Chisolm?" Nico asked. I think he was asking me, but that didn't really matter to Bella.

"She was a female satyr," she said. "She died looking for Pan a few years ago. My mom knew her. She was really cool. We found her bedroom under the amphitheater yesterday."

Nico nodded.

"Who's Bianca? You've been talking about her, but you haven't told me anything," I said.

Nico frowned at his cereal. "She was my older sister. She was a Hunter of Artemis. She died on her first quest. She was 12." Then he shut up and wouldn't talk anymore. I got the feeling it had been a bad idea to ask about Bianca.

Eventually Cooper broke the silence. "EmCay, how does it feel to have a brother?"

"That's the thing," I said. "We're pretty sure he's not. We being me, Nico, and Chiron. Chiron said he'd never seen a child of Hades claimed with the symbol that was used for me."

"It's hard to imagine it being much else. I mean, maybe Demeter, but I'm pretty sure her symbol is different," Isabella said between bites of a Diet Coke can. I now understood why her Sprite can on the plane had had a chunk missing – she had eaten it.

"It doesn't feel right," Nico said finally. "With Bianca, I knew she was my sister. There was an aura of death around her. There's one with me, too. You've seen how much the satyrs like me." He glanced at Isabella. "No offense."

"None taken," she replied. "Maybe your dad's a minor god, EmCay. I can't think of any that use a scythe, but there's probably one out there somewhere."

"Maybe," I said. The minor god theory was the most likely story, but I thought back to when we'd met the Kindly One.

 _Two attacks in a day,_ Isabella had said. _You and Cooper must really be special._

By then everyone had finished. At Camp Half-Blood, they do classes by cabin. Isabella went off to teach the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins Latin. Nico and I went to archery class, which was fun. It turned out I wasn't as amazing as I thought I was, but I'm blaming that on my lack of experience with recurve bows – I'm used to compounds. (If you don't know what that means, the Internet may help. Unless you're a demigod. In that case, you should probably use a dictionary.)

Nico, however, sucked. He couldn't hit inside the second ring even after I bet a s'more. It was pretty funny. He paid more attention to the instructor than anyone else, but he never even held the bow right. Will Solace, the instructor, had to keep coming over and correcting him.

During a break, we were sitting on a bench drinking Gatorade. Nico didn't like it, but Will had insisted, as he apparently didn't have any water on hand. "How long have you been taking these classes?" I asked.

"A couple years," he replied. "Why?"

"I hate to say this, but you suck." I paused as something dawned on me. "Almost like you were doing stuff wrong on purpose. You don't have a crush on Will, do you?" I teased. He blushed and stared at the ground.

"Oh, my god, you do?"

He glared. The grass around his feet turned yellow and shriveled. "If you tell anyone, I will _personally_ –"

"Message taken," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "But he's, like, three years older than you."

"It doesn't matter to adults," he muttered. I decided to drop the subject.

 **I have a couple other stories that could use some attention, so I may not update this one for a little while.**


	7. Connor Stoll is Evil

**Fixed a few typos ^-^**

Never take a dare from a Stoll. Free life lesson right there.

During free time, Cooper and I were hanging out with the Stoll brothers, and Connor convinced us to play Truth or Dare. I hated the game, but he promised me a s'more if I got Clarisse La Rue to laugh. The satyrs at camp give you, like, five pieces of chocolate per s'more. So, yeah.

I dared Travis to kiss Katie Gardener, who was luckily much better by that point. He did it (on the cheek – that little brat!), and came back with three golden drachmas that he had swiped from her pocket. "I have a girlfriend now," he announced.

"Until she finds out where her drachmas went," Connor snorted. Travis looked so scared, it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. "Okay, EmCay, truth or dare?"

"First of all, don't call me that. Second... um... dare." I honestly don't know why I said dare. Like I said, I _hate_ Truth or Dare, the Dare part especially, and I mean no disrespect to a certain Oracle of Delphi.

Connor grinned, and I immediately knew that that had been a bad idea. "I dare you... what's a good one, Travis? Maybe... to kiss Nico di Angelo? On the lips?"

I paled. "You evil person."

Connor laughed maniacally. "I know, right? And the best part is, he's not actually your brother. I heard everything you said at breakfast this morning! We're playing without the option of chickening out. Go," he said.

"And you have to do it in front of the Hades cabin," Travis added. I stood. I knew my duty.

You may be thinking: "But you liked him. What's the problem?" The problem is, I'm 11. This may come as a shock to you, but usually when an 11-year-old girl says she likes someone, it means a crush. Crushes are very different from actually loving someone. Crushing on someone does not involve kissing him. It involves giggling about him with your friends and writing "EmCay + Nico," or "I ship Emico" – or whatever – on everything. So, you can understand why I was freaking out.

Nico was talking with a ghost behind the Hades cabin. It disappeared when it saw me, but I caught a glimpse of it – a very tall, very buff dark-skinned guy, probably college-age, in what looked like a blacksmith's clothes. After it vanished, Nico turned around to see what had disturbed it. He relaxed a bit when he saw me. "Hey," he said. "That's just Beckendorf. I think you startled him."

"Sorry," I replied, glancing around. "Can we go around to the front for a minute?"

"What's wrong?" he asked as I led him around to the front of the cabin. When I caught Travis's eye, he gave me a thumbs-up. I shot eye daggers back at him, and Nico seemed to understand what was going on. He stopped. "Wait. You're playing Truth or Dare with _them?"_

"Connor promised me a s'more," I complained. "The s'mores here are really good."

He sighed. "Why do girls have to like chocolate so much? What was the dare?"

"I have to kiss you," I said. He blushed, and I looked down at the ground. "On the lips."

We stood there for a second. "Well, that's what you've got to expect from the Stolls. Anything else?" he asked.

"I can't chicken out and we have to do it where they can see us," I said.

"Okay," he said simply. He kissed me for about three seconds before I backed away. Clarisse, watching from the Ares cabin, burst out laughing.

"I never thought I'd see Death Boy kiss someone!" she yelled at us.

"Thanks," I told Nico, my face burning. "Connor owes me a s'more."

His face was just as red as mine, if not more, but he smiled. "Slap him for me," he said.

"Gladly," I called over my shoulder as I stomped back towards the central green.

"How was – ow!" Connor said. That last part was because I punched him in the arm.

"That was from me," I said. Then I slapped his face. "And that was from Nico. If I hear that anyone I see around me is talking about this, I will punch you again in a much more painful place. And you owe me your s'more."

"I never said I'd give you mine," Connor whined.

"I'm going to tell everyone I see to guard theirs at the next campfire, so it's going to have to be yours," I said. Cooper stood and put a hand on Connor's shoulder.

"As her best friend," he whispered loudly, "I'd suggest backing off." Connor nodded enthusiastically, one hand on his bicep.

That night was really boring (except for the whole dare thing, but Clarisse, Cooper, and the Stolls were the only ones who saw that). I'm pretty sure that Chiron had accidentally overlooked it when he was working on the schedule, so he just let us all do whatever we wanted, as long as it did not involve what had been dubbed basketshoe, going into Rachel Dare's cave (apparently they'd been having problems with that) or salad fights. I figured this was a good time to ask Chiron what had happened to my mom, whom I'd forgotten yet _again._

"I'm honestly not sure," he said when I asked him. "After you went on your tour, she said she had to use the restroom. I pointed it out, but she didn't come out after about ten minutes. The door's still locked."

This was news. I was the one who took fifteen minutes in the bathroom. Mom took, like, one minute. "That's not like her," I said. "Have you tried breaking in?"

"No," he admitted. "I, ah, haven't had the courage."

"Oh, yeah. You're a guy. I'll go try," I said. The door, like he had said, was locked, but it wasn't a key lock. I could unlock it with my fingernail. It was a really small bathroom, and I couldn't see Mom anywhere. "She's not in here," I told Chiron. "Is there, like, a secret trapdoor anywhere?"

"It's been a few centuries since this house was built, but I don't believe so. Is she your birth mother?" he asked.

"No, I was adopted when I was two weeks old," I replied, though I couldn't really see the point of the question.

"Ah, that may explain the problem of your godly parents. Perhaps your birth parents were demigods – a child of Hades and a child of Demeter. That would explain your sign," he said.

"That is really awesome, but my real mom seems to be missing. Any idea where she might have gone?" I asked.

"Not one. I'm sorry, Emily," he said. I sat down on the grape couch and sighed.

Sometimes people ask why I love my mom so much if she's not my _real_ mom. I tell them that they're being stupid. My birth parents put me up for adoption for whatever reason. My mom actually _chose_ me. She had the choice of about fifteen different kids, and she wanted me. I've been raised as her daughter. We love each other. Of course she's my real mom.

"Okay. Do you still want me sleeping in the Hades cabin?" I said.

"Since that's our best bet, that would probably be good. See you in the morning, Emily," he said. I went back to the cabin sadly, not even bothering to splash in the creek. Cooper must have known something was wrong when he saw that. He came over and walked back to the cabins with me.

"Hey, EmCay. What's up? You seem sad," he said.

"My mom's gone. She went to the bathroom in the Big House and just disappeared," I replied. "And Chiron says I might not even be a demigod. He thinks my birth parents were demigods, a child of Demeter and a child of Hades, and that's why my sign looked like that."

Cooper was silent for a minute. "Oh. That sucks." I thought that summed it up pretty well.

My sheet-wall was still on the ground, but I was too tired and too sad to hang it up again, or even get into my pajamas. I just lay down and waited to fall asleep.

In my dream, I was standing at the edge of a pit in what was probably the Underworld. _Tartarus,_ I thought. That was one of the few things I remembered from Greek mythology. I tried to run, but I was standing on a steep slope covered in black gravel. The harder I tried, the closer I slid to the edge. At one point I thought I was going to fall in, which would have sucked, but there was an invisible wall stopping me.

"Stop struggling, dear. Tartarus really isn't that bad. You don't need to run away," a man's voice said. I have to admit: I freaked. I tried even harder to run away, but this time the wall disappeared and I fell. I was just hanging on by my hands. I figured the voice was Hades, my probably-grandfather.

"L-lord Hades?" I squeaked. Yes, _squeaked_ is the right word. I was so scared, I sounded like a mouse being stabbed with a fork. Sorry if you were eating while reading that.

"I could really use some help down here, if you wouldn't mind. Don't you want to come visit your papa?" he asked. I swallowed hard. _Papa_ was what I'd called my grandfather before he died. I didn't say anything. One hand fell off the ledge. Immediately, it was surrounded by warmth - kind of like I'd stuck it into a hand-shaped oven.

"I suppose that's a yes? All right, then. See you later, Emily," Hades said. I lost my grip and fell into Tartarus. I wasn't sure if I was asleep or not from that point on – I was just falling, and falling, and falling. I couldn't see anything. I wondered if the pit was really bottomless, as I'd heard, and if monsters just reformed in midair and got teleported back to the mortal world. I didn't manage to find anything that could have been proof.

I woke when I realized the warm pressure against my hand was another hand. It was still night, and Nico had fallen asleep in a chair next to my bed, holding my hand. I turned to see him better and woke him up in the process. He saw the look on my face, glanced at our hands, and got back into his bed.

"Nico? Are you..." I was going to say _okay,_ but he obviously wasn't. I couldn't think of anything else.

"Your hand was cold," he said shortly.

He didn't say anything after that, even though he wasn't asleep. I thought about the dare earlier – he had seemed to be perfectly fine with kissing me, and I'd been the first one to break away. And I knew for a fact that my hand had not been cold, because since when is just one part of your body cold? Well, unless you're wearing a coat, and then just your face would be cold. But I wasn't wearing a coat. Plus, it was August. New York was a heck of a lot different from Texas – back home, it would be about eighty-five degrees – but it definitely wasn't cold out. It was probably around seventy degrees.

Nico wasn't my brother, but he may have been my uncle. That was scary enough by itself, that I had a crush on my uncle, but what's worse was he seemed to have a crush on _me_. I could hope that Chiron was wrong, that I wasn't related to Hades at all, but my sign made it kind of hard to believe that. Maybe I wasn't a demigod at all, and the gods had decided to have April Fool's Day a little late this year.

I prayed silently: _If you're my dad, show me who you are._ Thunder boomed in reply. I remembered that that's how the gods signaled that they'd heard your prayer, and was momentarily comforted. Then the thunder continued. Before long, I could hear rain pattering against the roof.

Wait. _Rain?_

It wasn't supposed to rain at Camp Half-Blood. I got out of bed, careful not to wake Nico, and opened the door. Yep, it was raining. Hard. Every few seconds, lightning lit up the sky. A few other campers had noticed, too – doors all over the green were opening. Everyone stood at the entrances to their cabins, just staring.

"Well," someone said, "someone's made the gods mad."


End file.
